Best sharpening system

[mr.alan.]

Hi all,
I am looking to get a new sharpening system - I want to be able to sharpen chisels - plane blades and wood turning chisels ... I am torn between the Tormek T8 , The Robert Sorby Pro edge , and the new Axminister system ( like the pro edge) has any of you had experience with these , if so what are your thoughts ? Thanks in advance

 

[woodbloke66]

If you're after a Tormek, I may be selling my T7 (not very old either) quite shortly with most of the bells n'whistles for cabinet and turning work - Rob

 

[transatlantic]

I have the sorby and it's excellent for sharpening wood turning tools and for establishing chisels, but depending on how sharp you want things, you would still need another system (stones, abrasive paper etc) for getting an edge on chisels/planes.

 

[Peter Sefton]

I like my T8 but won't say anymore apart from Happy New Year and best wishes to all sharpening systems.

 

[Westwood]

Woodbloke66, if you do decide to sell your T7, may I be the first to register an interest please.

 

[woodbloke66]

Woodbloke66, if you do decide to sell your T7, may I be the first to register an interest please.

Absolutely, no problem. It's got all the stuff including a rotating base, rubber mat, twin tool rests, leather 'V' honing belts for turning gouges and all the usual jigs - Rob

 

[custard]

I've used the Tormek and the Sorby Pro-Edge, as well as loads of different traditional power wheel grinders over the years.

Tormek is very reliable to use with an outstanding jig system, but it's really, really slow. Like lose the will to live slow, especially with modern steels. The super expensive Tormek black wheel doesn't speed things up much either. If you're a hobbyist and don't sharpen that often then I can see the attraction; but for a professional or a heavy user like an enthusiastic woodturner it's less likely to be viable.

Traditional grinding wheels are affordable and by and large absolutely fine, but they often come with rubbish tool rests, no jigs, and rubbish wheels. However all these are correctable. They're really fast to use, but there's a learning curve and at first you'll blue the odd tool here and there. Not the end of the world but most hobbyists look a bit crestfallen whenever that happens, so if you're in that camp then trad grinders are maybe best avoided!

The Sorby Pro-Edge is somewhere between the two, it's fast enough and it minimises (but doesn't completely remove) the risk of bluing. I like them but at the end of the day it's a personal choice. Ideally you'd try them all before deciding.

 

[johnnyb]

The tormeks at al do have the benefit of being fairly reliably dependable. But being slow and the mess is annoying. Very coarse diamond stones are very nearly as quick!

 

[Ring]

I have had the worksharp 3000 system for years and I can not fault it ,I can get my plane irons and chisels razor sharp, it comes with the see through plates for gouges as well.

 

[Lons]

I have a pro edge and a Tormek T7 and use both although the pro edge gets the most use as imo it's by far the easiest for turning tools. My grinder is almost redundant as I use the pro edge to re shape bench chisels as well but then have a session with the T7 to get a "proper" edge on those plane irons and kitchen knives. In between I touch up with a fine diamond plate.

 

[johnnyb]

I also have a sharpenset! This is fast doesn't blue as it's water cooled. Has a straight jig.different stones. Unfortunately it's rare as hens teeth.it is British made though. Look it up. It's powerful to with a brook Compton motor!

 

[mr.alan.]

If you're after a Tormek, I may be selling my T7 (not very old either) quite shortly with most of the bells n'whistles for cabinet and turning work - Rob

Hi Rob , if you can pm me and let me know what you have and what you are asking please .

 

[mr.alan.]

I've used the Tormek and the Sorby Pro-Edge, as well as loads of different traditional power wheel grinders over the years.

Tormek is very reliable to use with an outstanding jig system, but it's really, really slow. Like lose the will to live slow, especially with modern steels. The super expensive Tormek black wheel doesn't speed things up much either. If you're a hobbyist and don't sharpen that often then I can see the attraction; but for a professional or a heavy user like an enthusiastic woodturner it's less likely to be viable.

Traditional grinding wheels are affordable and by and large absolutely fine, but they often come with rubbish tool rests, no jigs, and rubbish wheels. However all these are correctable. They're really fast to use, but there's a learning curve and at first you'll blue the odd tool here and there. Not the end of the world but most hobbyists look a bit crestfallen whenever that happens, so if you're in that camp then trad grinders are maybe best avoided!

The Sorby Pro-Edge is somewhere between the two, it's fast enough and it minimises (but doesn't completely remove) the risk of bluing. I like them but at the end of the day it's a personal choice. Ideally you'd try them all before deciding.

Thanks custard ... a very informative post- at present and for the past 20 years that’s all I’ve ever used ( a cheap grinder .. and occasionally get blueing - and lots of bevels on my wood turning gouges! .. and I have had a Tormek years ago ( the one where you attach the drill) yes that old ha ha .. they as you say are slow .... but give a good finish - decisions decisions...

 

[mr.alan.]

If you're after a Tormek, I may be selling my T7 (not very old either) quite shortly with most of the bells n'whistles for cabinet and turning work - Rob

Hi Rob - could you pm me and let me know what you are asking please . Thanks

 

[mr.alan.]

I have had the worksharp 3000 system for years and I can not fault it ,I can get my plane irons and chisels razor sharp, it comes with the see through plates for gouges as well.

Not familiar with that system - will look it up - thanks .

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi - my 2d's worth:

I treat joinery chisels and plane irons differently from turning chisels/gouges - different geometry and different steel. In both cases I am prepared to pay extra for the hardest cutting surface I can afford (Diamond or CBN - these also happen to not need periodic flattening/dressing like stone plates/wheels) - this is the main time/effort saver, as even with more exotic tool steels you can cut through without a strain every time.

For chisels and plane irons (when I don't just freehand them, Jacob - if you read this!) I just use a Veritas honing jig on a diamond stone or scary sharp paper, then strop. I really only bother with a jig if I need the edge to be absolutely square-on and/or I want to do some serious work on a (primary) bevel. An old fashioned vice-style jig works fine too.

e.g. https://www.axminster.co.uk/veritas-del ... set-101262
https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-r ... ide-340147

For turning chisels/gouges I use a CBN wheel on a slow grinder. I was going to make my own jig(s) to present tools to the stone, but I made a snap decision to buy the Axminster turning tool sharpening jig system and it's expensive for what it is but very serviceable.

e.g. https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-e ... 80g-105026
https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-t ... der-505195
https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-w ... tem-950032

Personally, the above suits me, and feels less expensive than the Tormek gear (I see you can get diamond wheels for the Tormek which might be considered the real Rolls-Royce solution!) or the Sorby (or its new Axminster rival).

Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice!

Happy New Year to all, cheers, W2S

PS I forgot to add that one of the reasons I chose my systems is to avoid having water everywhere, although water, oil or honing fluid does help to catch dust. I am extremely wary of airborne dust from sharpening steels (tiny particles containing chromium, cobalt, tungsten, molybdenum etc. etc. are not good in the lungs).

 

[woodbloke66]

If you're after a Tormek, I may be selling my T7 (not very old either) quite shortly with most of the bells n'whistles for cabinet and turning work - Rob

Hi Rob , if you can pm me and let me know what you have and what you are asking please .

I may have found an answer to my Tormek woes. I've always found the existing wheel that comes with the Tormek unsatisfactory; it's too slow for reshaping turning tools (as Custard rightly mentions), it constantly needs to be trued and seems to glaze over really quickly getting very mucky in the process. Also in my experience it won't handle PMV-11 steels very well either, but it's fine with bog standard O1 carbon steels. However, browsing this morning over coffee in the Ax catalogue, I now see they do a coarse diamond wheel (hammer) for the T7 & 8 - Rob

 

[TopCat 32]

I have the Pro edge and love it, mainly for woodturning chisels , its quick and no messy water trays, i was looking at the Tormek and pro edge and chose the pro edge , happy i did, i suppose for plain irons and carving chisels you would need a finer grind ( i grind my chisels at 120, and sometimes up to 240 and find that fine for turning tools), but i know they do a Trizact belt in 600, 1200 , and 3000 grit, i'm sure that would put a fine enough edge on your tools, big plus for me is it is so much quicker than the tormek. hope this helps

Tim

 

[TFrench]

I've got the pro edge, love it. If I was buying now I'd look very hard at the axi one - looks like a better machine than the pro edge to me. Pro edge is great for turning tools and quickly getting bevels to the right ballpark on planes and chisels (I buy a lot of old stuff to restore) but I always finish on a diamond stone and strop. Its just proper, innit!

 

[mr.alan.]

Hi - my 2d's worth:

I treat joinery chisels and plane irons differently from turning chisels/gouges - different geometry and different steel. In both cases I am prepared to pay extra for the hardest cutting surface I can afford (Diamond or CBN - these also happen to not need periodic flattening/dressing like stone plates/wheels) - this is the main time/effort saver, as even with more exotic tool steels you can cut through without a strain every time.

For chisels and plane irons (when I don't just freehand them, Jacob - if you read this!) I just use a Veritas honing jig on a diamond stone or scary sharp paper, then strop. I really only bother with a jig if I need the edge to be absolutely square-on and/or I want to do some serious work on a (primary) bevel. An old fashioned vice-style jig works fine too.

e.g. https://www.axminster.co.uk/veritas-del ... set-101262
https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-r ... ide-340147

For turning chisels/gouges I use a CBN wheel on a slow grinder. I was going to make my own jig(s) to present tools to the stone, but I made a snap decision to buy the Axminster turning tool sharpening jig system and it's expensive for what it is but very serviceable.

e.g. https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-e ... 80g-105026
https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-t ... der-505195
https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-w ... tem-950032

Personally, the above suits me, and feels less expensive than the Tormek gear (I see you can get diamond wheels for the Tormek which might be considered the real Rolls-Royce solution!) or the Sorby (or its new Axminster rival).

Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice!

Happy New Year to all, cheers, W2S

PS I forgot to add that one of the reasons I chose my systems is to avoid having water everywhere, although water, oil or honing fluid does help to catch dust. I am extremely wary of airborne dust from sharpening steels (tiny particles containing chromium, cobalt, tungsten, molybdenum etc. etc. are not good in the lungs).

Thanks Woody2shoes, a great informative post - At the moment I use the grinder and free hand sharpening my woodturning chisels - the plane blades and Wood chisels I like you just use jig Veritas - and diamond stones and ceramic . I would only use the new sharpening system basically for mostly my woodturning chisels and occasionally for the wood chisels - when they need grinding due to a nick or similar.